


Sitting next to you

by ValeReads



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU, Airports, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, First Meetings, I Ship It, I'm Bad At Titles, KuroKen - Freeform, M/M, POV Kuroo Tetsurou, Pro Gamer Kozume Kenma, YouTuber Kozume Kenma, airport shenanigans, delayed flight, english is not my first language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24783346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValeReads/pseuds/ValeReads
Summary: "Well Kuroo let me tell you something, we are going to be stuck here for a really long time.""What?" He says amused "Impossible, they won't make us wait that long, I just talk with a worker and she promised me it would only be an hour, well at first she said it would be less but then... ohh no" he says with a worried tone "We will never get out of here."A story about how Kuroo met Kenma waiting for his delayed flight at the airport.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 16
Kudos: 229
Collections: My favorite haikyuu fics





	Sitting next to you

**Author's Note:**

> This happened in my head before the pandemic...

It was the fourth time that he had passed through the airport security check and honestly at this rate Kuroo will have to cross the metal detector naked since they made him take off almost all of his clothes, at the end it was his estupid belt that caused him that long embarrassment. He was running with his backpack and shoes (which he was forced to take off) in hand through the airport. There are only a few minutes left for the gates to close so he had no choice but to run faster, he frantically looks for his gate, when he reached the departure lounge, he moved his head everywhere looking for the number 3, it’s difficult for him to find the gate because it's full of people lining up everywhere, he curses himself for sleeping an extra half hour in the morning. When he finally manages to find his gate, he runs to it almost tripping with his shoelaces, he worries when he sees that there were no people in line, he walks quickly to the check-in desk where a woman was reviewing some papers. He was so tired that no words came out of his mouth, he only manages to get out heavy breathings, he took his boarding pass and ID from his pocket to put it on the desk, the woman startles a little and she looks at him, he continued with the strong movements of his chest trying to catch his breath. The woman gives him a big smile while saying something to him.

It's his lucky day! He says while he was in the bathroom looking at himself in the mirror, his flight was delayed half an hour. He runs his wet hands through his black hair to try to comb it a little more, since today it was more rebellious than ever, with an irritated face looking at him in the mirror he gives up on continuing with his impossible task, he fixes his shirt a little and ties his shoelaces correctly before leaving the bathroom. The departure lounge was a little more empty compared when he first arrived, he sits near the boarding gate, he takes his cell phone out of his pocket, it was almost one in the afternoon, he start checking his social media, he answers some messages and laughs with a few memes until he sees the red number of his battery warning him that he only has 15% left, he keeps his cell phone in his pocket to save his battery and he entertains himself by reading a magazine about safety on the flight. After reading it twice he observes the people around him, there was a sweet old lady sitting near him, when she looked back she smiled at him, there was a family of eight members who were arguing about something, a young girl who was with a pet travel bag, Kuroo wonders what animal could be in there, there was a couple who were passionately kissing way too close to his seat and he can see a large group of foreign tourists with maps. He checks his watch and the half hour has passed, he waits about five more minutes to get up and go check to the desk, he went with his small travel bag in hand and returns defeated to his seat, he would have to wait for another hour.

When he’s already in his fifth boring magazine, he gets up looking for a wall socket to charge his phone and entertain himself for a while, he stretches a little and looks everywhere. He assumes that the people who were in the departure lounge at the moment were those who were waiting for the same flight to Tokyo, he tries to find an available socket with his eyes, but he can only see people sitting connected to their phones. He starts walking to search better, he checks every corner and there was no place to connect his charger, he shoots a hateful look at the man who was hogging the area of phone chargers with four phones in hand, Who in his right mind have four phones? He looks both ways making sure that no one is around when he sees a free wall socket, he start walking quickly so nobody wins his spot, he can see someone walking to the same place out of the corner of his eye, Kuroo hurries his step until he unconsciously starts running, with a victory smile on his face he kneels down and takes the charger out of his travel bag to connect it, he has to sit on the floor because the socket was very low, he puts his bag next to him and sits with his long legs stretched while charging his cell phone. When he finally looks at his side he can see a person sitting in the same position occupying the same socket charging his cell phone as well, his big golden eyes looked at him in surprise and the young man was holding onto his phone. Ohhh, did he looked like a lunatic running towards him? the answers is probably yes.

"Ehhh, were you using only one right?" he says to the boy speaking clearly about the socket. He nods with his head, he was already occupying one, but apparently people liked to take advantage of the free energy from the airport because everyone were charging more than one thing at a time.

He keeps checking his social media, he tells his roommate that he will be a little bit late and reminds him about watering the plants, he sends a message to his dad asking how the trip is going, he sends an email to his teacher thanking him for letting him take the exam earlier. He moves his head to accommodate himself better and he almost smash his head with the young man next to him, he murmurs a small apology, but he says nothing. He glances discreetly at the boy, his golden eyes caught his attention immediately, his hair began with what he supposed with his natural dark color and then changed to a dyed blonde on the ends, it was long almost surpassing his shoulders, his legs were stretched out and they looked shorter compared to his, he was dressed in a hoodie definitely too big for his size and he was playing a game on his phone while charging it. He tilts his head to see what game he was playing, but he feels the stranger's gaze looking directly into his eyes, "Shit," he says to himself internally as he turns his head not discretely at all, he could feel his cheeks heating up as he has been caught staring. When he looks at the boy with the corner of his eye, he can see that he is still playing on his phone, he doesn't want him to think that he was some kind of a weird guy who likes to stare at people, so he was left with no choice but to start a conversation.

"What are you playing?" He asks in a not usual higher-pitched tone. The boy stops the movement of his fingers and shows him his giant phone screen to keep playing.

"Ahhh" he says after clearing his throat. Should he know the name of that game?

"I don't know it, but it looks fun" he says with a smile, the boy just makes a confirmation noise with his mouth. Kuroo runs his hands through his pants, his phone was in his lap, he looks around for a while, there were about ten minutes left for them to start calling people on the speaker.

"It is" the boy with the golden eyes says, "the game" he adds.

Kuroo looks at him for a while, he keeps playing without stopping the fast movement of his fingers and he has most of his hair on his face. "What it’s about?" He says to prolong the conversation.

The boy briefly explains the mechanics of the game, he himself was not a big fan of video games so he just nods, "See" the boy tells him when his character wins the game.

"Ahhhh" he says as he gets near him, the boy brings his phone closer so he can see better, "It sounds way too complicated. Shouldn't games be to distract and relax you or something?"

"Not everyone has the brain to play them," he says dryly.

Kuroo can't help but let out a loud laugh, "Are you waiting for the flight to Tokyo?" He asks with a tiny bit of hope.

"Hmm yes" the boy looks up "you?"

"Me too," he says excitedly, "Umm, so what bring you to Okinawa?" The boy tilts his head to the side and narrows his eyes at him. "Ohh right," he says with a grin "Kuroo Tetsurou."

He can feel the boy analyzing him, "Kozume Kenma" he says with a soft voice.

"Nice to meet you Kozume."

"Kenma, just Kenma is fine," he says, returning his gaze to the game, "I came here for work," he lowers his head even more, "And you?"

Kenma, Kenma he repeats in his mind, "For a wedding, my dad married his girlfriend, finally." he says smiling, Kenma nods again. Kuroo sighs "They should be calling us by now, they told me we would only have to wait an hour." he adds, while looking at the time on his phone, he quickly looks up when he hears a small laugh.

"An hour?" Kenma looks at him amused, "Is this your first time traveling by plane?"

"Ehhh, no, well yes, I mean... the second time, the first was when I got here two days ago."

"Well Kuroo let me tell you something, we are going to be stuck here for a really long time, we will not arrive in Tokyo for at least six hours if my maths doesn't fail me.”

"What?" He says amused "Impossible, they won't make us wait that long, I just talk with a worker and she promised me it would only be an hour, well at first she said it would be less but then... ohh no" he says with a worried tone "We will never get out of here."

Kenma nods at him still with a smile on his face "Sorry, someone had to tell you."

"I'll go ask anyway," he says, standing up, "take care of my things please."

  
  


"No, look, you don't understand... you told me the same thing almost two hours ago."

"Sorry sir, the flight is delayed for two more hours. I assured you that you will not wait any longer than that, if you want you can leave a complaint or a suggestion on the book." the lady says, pointing to an empty notebook on the counter.

"Alright fine, just a couple of hours right?"

"Yes, the airline commits not to make you wait more than two hours so you can get home safely." she says with a pretty robotic smile.

"Thank you," he replies as he returns to his spot. Kenma was sitting there hugging his knees waiting for him, when their eyes meet, the blonde smiles at him maliciously.

"She said we will have to wait only for a couple of hours." He tells him as he sits down on the other side of the wall socket.

"Sure... and we should believe her because ...?"

"Because they are a reliable airline and they wouldn't leave their passengers stranded for so many hours perhaps."

Kenma snorts at him, he stretches his legs to continue playing. Kuroo keeps checking his messages, he talks to his best friend to pass the time faster, then he receives a message from Akaashi telling him to stop distracting Bokuto in classes and that he already water his plants because Bokuto had forgotten. He sighs a couple of times, the boredom was already winning over him, his phone was almost fully charged, maybe he could watch a movie or something. He moves his head to the side and Kenma was still playing his game, maybe he could download it "What's the name of the game?"

Kenma raises his head and makes a thoughtful face, he has to close the app to look for the name, "Game of Conquest".

Kuroo looks for it on his phone to download it, "WHAT? you have to pay for the game?"

"Ummm yes, but it's not that much and it's a good game, it's worth it."

"You didn't even remember the name, I won't spend my money to play that, I'll download one for free."

Kenma shrugs, he was looking for a game to play and sees a similar one about strategy, it had almost four stars and it was totally free, this will do. "That one is terrible" Kenma says, approaching his shoulder.

"Why? It has good reviews."

"I already played it, it's boring, plus it's only on top of the list just because people likes the almost naked girl on the cover."

"Ohhh" he brings the phone closer to him, "Which one do you recommend?"

"What do you like to play?"

"Ehhh I normally do crossword puzzles online, I'm not a big fan of video games."

Kenma looks at him with a disgusted face, "Crosswords... really? Don't ever say crosswords and video games in the same sentence again."

Kuroo raises an eyebrow "Ohh sorry for offending you mister I know all forms of human entertainment."

Kenma rolls his eyes "Whatever, have fun playing your game for old people.”

"Heeeey," he says, touching his chest with a offended face, "It's to train the brain."

He unplugs his phone charger and is about to get up when he hears Kenma, "Where are you going?"

"To sit in those seats over there, my butt hurts." he says pointing to the seats a few meters away.

Kenma rolls his eyes again, "They'll come to take your spot in seconds, look."

Kuroo turns around and he can see a group of people slowly approaching them as if they were zombies. "But my phone is already fully charged, I don't need it anymore."

"Don't be an idiot," Kenma raises his hand and grabs his pants so he sits down. "You will run out of battery later and you will not be able to charge it."

Kuroo sits back down, "B-but someone may need it."

"Just plug your charger in and pretend you are using it, see?"

Now that he got a good look at it, Kenma never really had his cell phone plugged in, he moves his head to look around and almost no one is really charging their things. "What? Why do people do that?"

Kenma shrugs "I don't know, but if you blink you lose, there's no other choice but to do the same."

Kuroo sighs and stretches his legs even further, he was absolutely bored, "Do you want to watch a movie?" the words come out before he can process them.

Kenma stops the movement of his fingers and looks him in the eye, "okay" he says.

Kuroo manages to breathe again and puts his bag to support the cell phone in front of them, he gets a little closer to Kenma and together they choose a movie on Netflix. They spend minutes choosing which movie to watch, in the end they choose for a new action film that any of them has seen. Kenma offers to see it on his cell phone, since his screen is bigger and it was not cracked like his, he already had the headphones connected so he offers him one. This is how the first minutes pass, he could still hear the hustle and bustle of the airport and occasionally they paused it when they heard a message on the speaker. Kuroo didn't know how Kenma could understand the unintelligible voice. "The best friend is the murderer" Kenma said to him twenty minutes in the movie.

"What? Nooooo, but they shoot him trying to save the protagonist's girlfriend!"

"It was a plan, the girlfriend and the best friend are together."

The movie was not the best he had ever seen, but it was entertaining, the action scenes were good choreographed. His shoulders and legs are brushing against Kenma's, Kuroo was uncomfortable, but he didn’t wanted to move, a couple of messages appeared on the screen of a certain "Shouyou" one asking if he was still at the airport and another that he couldn’t read because Kenma pulled it out quickly, he only saw that it had multiple hearts and exclamation marks. He feel Kenma's triumphant smile when it was revealed that the best friend was really the murderer, Kuroo rolls his eyes, at least he wasn't right about the girlfrie- and there goes the girlfriend kissing the antagonist.

"You have watched it before!" He tells him in the middle of the fight between the hero and his villain.

"No, it’s because they are all the same."

The movie ends with the two evil couple in jail, the hero stays with the best friend who was there for him at all times, people start clapping out of nowhere as they kiss and at the end there is a post credit scene where the couple escapes from the jail. "It was... good, maybe we can see the sequel at the theater” he says to Kenma with a smirk.

Kenma quickly lowers his head while looking for something on the phone, "They canceled it" he finally says when he finds the news.

"Ohhh well," he replies with a nervous chuckle, "Did you like it?"

Kenma shrugs, "It helped to pass the the two hours even faster" he says as he connects his charger to the cell phone, this time for real. Kenma stretches his arms and legs without standing of his place.

He was already hungry, but the airport was excessively expensive, he was looking for something to eat among his things, he had a banana that he put in the morning and a small chocolate bar, he had to save his rations if he planned to spend the whole day in here, when he looks up Kenma was looking at him. "Do you want any?" He says offering his hand. Kenma takes the chocolate and starts to open it, stupid banana he says as he eats it, it was almost rotten and it tasted bad. "So… What's your job??" Kenma looks at him with the chocolate still in his mouth, he blinks a couple of times, "You mentioned before you came here for work, so..."

"Ahh yes, it was really a meeting, nothing important, it has to do with video games."

"Really? Do you design them or something?"

Kenma blushes, "Not yet, but i’m studying it, so maybe yes... someday" he was typing something on his phone.

"That sounds fun, I study biochemistry, I’m in my third year."

"Wooow that sounds... not fun at all" Kenma says with his head resting on the wall, "I'm in my second year, what college?"

"Yes it is! I bet you had a bad old boring teacher and that's why you don't like science."

Kenma nods at him and Kuroo rolls his eyes, it turns out they weren't in the same college and that made him feel a little... disappointed? Sad? They both talk about their classes, Kuroo talks to him about his roommate and best friend Bokuto, he tells him some stories of his adventures, he talks about playing volleyball and he’s surprised when Kenma tells him he used to play too, but he quit when he entered college, he talks about his friend Shouyou.

"Is he your roommate?"

"No, I don't live on campus, I live alone, Shouyou is my friend only."

His friend only.

His friend only...

Only his friend!

They spend a while talking about their lives when suddenly he feels his leg vibrate, after a few times he takes out his phone worried, maybe it is Bokuto, but his phone only has a message from his dad and other one from Bokuto from hours ago saying that he had already watered the plants and he had not forgotten. He keeps his phone in his pocket and continues to listen to Kenma's story, he still feels the vibrations.

"Sorry" he says when Kenma takes out his phone that was on the floor near his leg, he sees that he puts it on silent and returns it to where it was.

"You are very requested today."

"Ehh, it's just Twitter."

"What’s your user?" He says as he takes out his phone to follow him.

Kenma’s eyes widened, "Ummm."

"Ohh, haha it doesn't matter" he says nervously moving his hand. Kuroo continues talking to him, he turns around on his spot a couple of times and he doesn't stop moving because he was already feeling uncomfortable, in addition, his stomach growls a few times, perhaps he should go buy something from the vending machine.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Kenma says when he stands up, he stretches his legs and his back a little, he was right, he was shorter than him. "Don't let your spot be stolen," he says with a serious face, "I'll go ask about the flight."

Kuroo replies that he shouldn’t worry, he left his phone charging and occasionally the screen lit up with Twitter messages, Kuroo entertains himself with his own phone so not to be intrusive, he sends a message to his group chat saying that he would be late because of his damn flight, but he has spent the afternoon entertaining himself with a stranger, he shakes his head to rewrite the message.

What’s his name? Bokuto wrote to him.

He answers as he sees Kenma approach him to sit cross-legged in front of him.

"I didn't know if you preferred coffee or not, so I brought you a soda too" he says placing the two hot drinks on the floor while he takes out a can from the bag.

"Ehhh any is fine, thanks Kenma, how much is it?"

Kenma looks at him in the eye as he opens his energy drink. "It's nothing Kuro, here."

He pulls out a gigantic sandwich from the bag and the smell made his stomach growl even louder. "I also brought some chips," he says as he pulls it out the package, "ohh and iughh nuts, the old people like it so I guess you like it too."

Kuroo accepts the package in his hands, he didn’t know what to tell him, this must have been a fortune... it was the airport after all. "Kenma, you shouldn't have, it's a lot."

Kenma was already biting his own sandwich, after swallowing he replies "If you want you can save it for later."

"No, I mean, it must have cost you a lot of money," he whispers, "I can't accept it."

Kenma raises an eyebrow, "Kuro is just food, it's not that much really and I can't eat it all by myself."

It's a reason enough for Kuroo to start eating because he was really really hungry. They eat almost in silence, the two checked their cell phones while they ate, the coffee was delicious, he could almost taste the money it had cost. When he finishes eating Kenma already had half of his food forgotten while he was eating a chocolate bar, he offers him the chocolate without raising his head from his phone, Kuroo replies that he was fine. "I'll pay you back when we get to Tokyo."

He raises his head and roll his eyes, "I already told you that-"

"Next time it’s on me, we could go to a nice restaurant though."

Kenma doesn’t cover his blushing face fast enough, he lowers his head and bites his lip. "Okay."

Kuroo smiles broadly, he wipes his hands on the napkin and passes his phone to Kenma to swap numbers, Kenma does the same. He save his number under the name of Kuro in his contact list with a heart next to it. When he finishes he sees that Kenma was still typing, he hears a couple of messages coming from his phone and prays to all the Gods so it's not something embarrassing. They exchange their phones without looking at each other, he subtly see the message, it was from Bo.

_ KOZUME KENMA???!!!!! _

_ LIKE THE YOUTUBER KOZUME KENMA!!!!!111 _

He makes a confused face, maybe Kenma didn't even see the message, he opens his YouTube app and searches for it carefully.

"Yeah, that’s me" Kenma says.

Kuroo looks up and he meets with his beautiful golden eyes. "Ohh, I didn't know, I only told Bo that we had spent the day together and I only mentioned your name, I didn't know anything" he says faster than his mind was processing it, he looks down and sees his YouTube profile, when Bo said he was a youtuber, he expected someone unknown with just a couple videos and a few followers, he wasn’t expecting a Gamer with more than 7 million subscribers. He opens his mouth like a fool and closes it only to open it again.

"Don't watch it" a red Kenma says trying to take his cell phone away from him.

He just moves away from Kenma's hands, a few giggles escape from his mouth, his last video was from yesterday with someone he didn't know, the title was something about Okinawa. "Ouch, ouch... okay, okay, Kenmaaaa."

The blonde manages to take his phone, "Please don't watch it, not in front of me" he was holding his phone strongly, he sees the screen and makes a serious face "D-did you just subscribe?"

"Of course, you are my favorite youtuber after all, ouch no, okay, sorry, sorry! I will not watch your videos I swear" he says as he runs his hand down his arm. Kenma returns him his phone slowly, "for someone so small you really know how to pinch" he says with a smile. Kenma is still blushing as he extends his hand, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it was a little joke, okay, okay."

He keeps the phone on his pocket and Kenma who is still blushing, continues to play with his own phone, he looked adorable. He changes the subject to forget the tension, "And what did they tell you about the flight?"

Without looking up at him, he replies that they will board at 10, almost two hours left for that, then they continue talking normally, he does not mention the subject of the videos again, they talk about their lives and he even makes Kenma laugh at some of his stories.

"How was the wedding?"

He was about to answer Kenma when they announce through the speaker that the passengers should start boarding soon. He was finally able to understand the language of the airport. The two sigh at the same time as they get up listening to the grunts and complaints of the other passengers, Kuroo wanted to stay longer talking to Kenma, the two stand in line together.

"I guess you're in first class" he says with a smirk.

Kenma rolls his eyes, "Obviously not," he says, offended, as they move forward he asks "What’s your seat?"

Kuroo doesn't have to see it, he already knows it by heart, he was nervous about flying so he memorized it "35 F"

"Ohhh" he replies with a disappointed tone, "I'm in front, 2 A"

He nods, no matter how silly it sounds, he would miss to be sitting next to Kenma, the two show their boarding pass at the same time, they walk together without talking, when they get to the point of entering the plane, Kuroo holds him by the sleeve to push him away of the crowd. Kenma's golden eyes looked at him expectantly.

"When we get to Tokyo we-we could go out" he says still holding onto his sleeve and running his fingers through his clearly nervous hair with his other hand. "I owe you after all... when are you free?"

Kenma opens his mouth to answer, a lady hits him with her baggage, she apologizes to him and Kuroo has to bring him even closer to him so that they do not get in the way. "Tomorrow I will sleep all day for sure, so it could be on Tuesday, but if it’s too early I can also go on Friday or any day really, my schedule is not that tight" he says as he plays with his fingers.

"Tuesday sounds perfect" he says with a smile, he inhales deeply "It's a date" after looking at each other eyes for eternal seconds he adds "right?"

"I would like that" Kenma answers him without looking away, Kuroo can breathe easily again, he smiles at Kenma. "Excuse me" he hears a man say with his family close to him, he was looking at them disapprovingly. Kuroo returns the unpleasant gaze at him and takes Kenma's backpack on his shoulder, they continue walking, in any moment he release his hand from his sleeve and his fingers brushed more than once.

When they enter the plane the flight attendant welcomes them, they walk a couple of steps when Kenma speaks to him "It's here" his seat was on the first row.

"Ohh, do you want me to leave your backpack on the compartment or ...?"

"Yes, please." he puts his backpack with the utmost care in the compartment. Kenma sits down at the window seat.

"I also chose the window seat" Kenma smiles at him, "Well ehhh, I guess I'm leaving now. I'll see you, we can message in the meantime, umm if you want" Kenma nods at him again.

He starts walking down the long hallway, he turns around and Kenma is looking at him on his seat, he gives him a smirk before Kenma quickly sits down again. His seat was one of the last row, he puts his bag on the compartment and sits on the window seat, he sighs a couple of times, he tells Bokuto that he will arrive in a couple of hours, he sends an emoji to Kenma and puts his phone on airplane mode. He was a little uncomfortable in his seat, he puts his seatbelt on and closes his eyes when the plane takes off, he was still nervous about traveling by air, it was not like the first time, but he was still a little scared, he tries to see out of the window, but everything was dark, when they give the warning to unbuckle the seatbelt Kuroo doesn’t do it for safety reasons, he wasn't going to do it after reading so many safety brochures.

He was playing with his fingers when he heard Kenma's soft voice, "Yes, it's in the front row and by the window."

He was talking to the person sitting next to him, Kuroo looked at him in surprise, the man stands up, took out his suitcase and exchanged a few words with Kenma. When the blond extends his arms to put his backpack in the compartment , Kuroo quicky stands, but the belt doesn't let him, he curses as he tries to open it and approaches Kenma to help him. The two were standing next to each other, Kuroo closed the compartment and looked into each other's eyes.

"Ohh mmm you can sit at the window... if you want."

"Okay," he says as he moves forward.

As soon as he sits down he buckles up. He hears Kenma giggle. "Heeey, it's for safety."

"It’s not about that," Kenma says when he shows him that he had also secured his seatbelt, "Your legs" he says with a snort.

Kuroo looks at his legs that were too big for the seat, his knees were bumping into the front seat, "Ha ha ha. So what brings you to the back of the plane?" He says getting closer than necessary with a smirk.

"I got used to sitting next to you" Kuroo feels his heart beating faster.

"Yeah, me too."

"When we land, ummm, we could share an Uber." The smile on his face widens even more, Kenma was watching him with his intense gaze.

"I would love to."

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Damn airports
> 
> My Twitter: @ReadsVale


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